X-Com: Enemy Without
by Cobra of England
Summary: The Ethereal War left Humanity scarred. The aftershocks left them bruised. But they rose up once again, and once again, Humanity must fight against the alien threat without.
1. Timeline

A/N: So, following a (very) lengthy hiatus from writing just about anything, I decided I might as well start with my own take on the XCom Humanity in the ME universe genre. Also, the Council was expanded to many nations not in it within the game but do provide soldiers for X-Com such as South Korea or Belgium.

* * *

Timeline of the Ethereal War and following decades-

2015: The first widely known assaults on Earth by the Ethereals begin. After the failure of the UN and STAG (Space based Threats Against the Globe) Command due to internal dissent among UN members, the richer and more powerful countries of the UN create the Council to manage funding and other relations between their governments and the newly created X-Com project, based out of the former US military base Cheyenne Mountain and staffed by a multi-national force assembled from Council member states.

2016: X-Com succeeds in throwing back the initial alien assaults, and also destroys what is at the time believed to be the main ailen base on Earth. EXALT also makes its first appearance by destroying a French military convoy. A Triad operative makes contact with the Council offering a piece of ailen technology for sale, however the offer is later withdrawn and the Triad operative vanishes.

2017: The Overseer UFO is first revealed, but X-Com interceptors are only able to inflict minor damage before being diverted to hit a Abductor-class UFO threatening Tokyo. EXALT give Annette Durand over to the aliens in exchange for the knowledge on how to synthesise Meld and the Ailen Alloy, dubbed Xenoium as element 126 while Meld is a compound of various elements. X-Com attempts to locate the EXALT HQ fail despite many successful operations against EXALT field cells.

2018: EXALT betray the aliens and after successfully 'rescuing' Annette from the aliens before the aliens halt the convoy and attempt to recapture Annette. They massacre the EXALT personnel, but are prevented from capturing Annette by X-Com intervention. X-Com, through information provided by Annette, attempts a raid on a landed alien abductor suspected to contain more test subjects. However, EXALT become aware of this and make off with the three test subjects. The Overseer UFO once again is able to evade detection.

2019: X-Com finally tracks down the location of EXALT's HQ to a skyscraper in Milwaukee. X-Com commits 3 Skyrangers of troops to taking EXALT's HQ down, but things quickly go south as EXALT is tipped off a day before and uses Stingers to down one of the Skyrangers. X-Com is still able to land the other two on the roof, however, and their superior equipment and experience are able to successfully breach into the HQ before EXALT commit their 3 pisons rescued from the aliens. The trio of heavily gene-modded pisons, backed up by the remaining EXALT forces, are able to subdue the remaining X-Com soldiers and take them hostage.

2020: The Council opens negotiations with EXALT for the release of captured X-Com soldiers and their equipment. EXALT is revealed to be a organization similar to the Council but made up of CEOs, wealthy buisnessmen and the leaders of international pariah states such as North Korea and Iran led by a lone, mysterious figure simply called 'The Officer'. The Treaty of Seattle, signed by both the Council and EXALT's leadership, agrees to the following;

-EXALT returns all X-Com personnel and equipment and shares it's knowledge on synthesising Meld and the alien alloy and how to modify standard ballistic weaponry into laser weapons.

-EXALT will not engage in any anti-Council operations and vice versa.

-'The Officer' is given a place on the Council to represent EXALT in anti-ailen operations.

-All EXALT operatives are issued pardons for all crimes committed and will remain under EXALT command.

-EXALT will remain operational as 'minutemen', moving back into society but being prepared to reinforce X-Com personnel as requested, to hunt down ailen infiltrators and to repel alien attacks on their own with the support of local military forces if need be.

2021: Without EXALT hampering their operations, X-Com are able to finally down the Overseer UFO and build the first psionics lab after capturing the Ethereal alive, while the ability to synthersise Meld enables a standard set of Gene Mods to be given to every X-Com and EXALT operative, as well as increasing numbers of volunteering personnel in national militaries. X-Com use the Ethereal device a few days after capturing it and successfully destroy the Temple Ship but at the loss of the entirety of Strike 1 and Strike 2, as well as many EXALT operatives. The 25th of April would later be known simply as Victory Day and become a worldwide holiday.

2022: Even with the death of the Uber Ethereal, the remaining Ethereals continued to fight on throughout the remainder of 2021 into 2022. By then, however, the alien forces still loyal to the Ethereals had been much reduced by desertion and combat losses against both EXALT forces and national militaries, now equipped with laser weaponry and MECs. Eventually the Ethereals, calling themselves the 'Cult of Sineus' after their new leader the Ethereal Sineus, surrender after a last offensive in a attempt to destroy the Council's HQ in Geneva. The assault fails, and in exchange for their surrender, the Council offers a complete amnesty for all aliens present in a year on the edge of the Sahara desert in Egypt. The Ethereal War is formally declared over.

2023: The last surviving Ethereals, their ever-loyal Muton bodyguards and front-line soldiers, robotic drones and Sectopods gather at the pre-determined surrender point along with limited numbers of Floaters. No Sectorids, Sectoid Commanders, Mechtoids, Thin Men or Chrysalids are present. X-Com proceeds to massacre every ailen present through airstrikes on the assembled mass followed by X-Com, EXALT and other military personnel sifting through the remains and killing any survivors. This event would become known as 'The Purge' and marked the start of the Extermination War, to in the words of Central Officer Bradford, 'finally end those damned aliens once and for all'.

2024: The first phase of the Extermination War begins; locating the main ailen holdouts and destroying them with precision airstrikes. Due to the ailen's reliance on psionics to communicate between groups and their need for Elerium to provide ammo for their weapons and a power source for their Mechtoid suits, the largest ailen groups are soon discovered and destroyed.

2025: The last Mechtoid suit is destroyed during a massed ailen assault on Calcutta.

2026: The last Sectoid Commander is killed during a assault on a hideout in the Congo jungle. All coordination among the ailen holdouts ceases.

2027: The last raiding party of Floaters and Heavy Floaters is destroyed in a brief firefight near Seoul.

2028: The last Sectoid is killed during a ambush on a ailen group near Toronto.

2029: Chrysallid sightings begin to become more common across the globe, but no attacks are reported. Dr Shen dies, and is mourned by the surviving X-Com soldiers and personnel.

2030: The Day of the Talon. A single massed counter-offensive across the globe, entirely made up of Chyrsalids, massacres nearly a quarter of Earth's population in one day. Later studies discover that the Chrysalids had spent the six years since the Temple Ship's destruction reproducing uncontrolled within 'hives' established under cities, and that the attack was preceeded by a single massive psionic pulse from Mars.

2035: The last of the Chrysallids are killed. It takes 5 years for a mixed force of X-Com MEC troopers and military tanks to finally clear the Chrysallid hordes from major cities across the world, but suspected sightings continue to this day. By this point the Thin Men have integrated themselves into human society and despite the best efforts of EXALT, X-Com, the Council and national intelligence agencies, the vast majority of Thin Men elude their grasp. With the last ailen holdouts finally crushed, the Extermination War is declared over.

2036: The main X-Com research lab outside of X-Com's main base is destroyed by a briefcase nuke planted by a unknown group. The lab contained all of X-Com's research into synthesising Elerium and much of X-Com's Elerium supply not used in weapons. X-Com's research into bulk Elerium synthesis hits a dead end.

2040: X-Com satellites find structures of unknown origin on Mars. Using a stripped-down Firestorm as propulsion for the XCSS _Avenger, _planetfall on Mars happened in weeks. The structures were unoccupied, but definitely artificial and contained a cache of technology powered by what is later termed Element Zero, built by a millennia-old race calling themselves 'Protheans'. The Council proceeds to disregard the Protheans as a extinct race enslaved by the Ethereals due to the lack of recent information in the cache. As no sources of Element Zero are known to the Council, work begins on trying to synthesise it. The Council and EXALT member nations and companies are finally able to negotiate Council unification of Earth's nations, with the head of every nation, the head of X-Com and the head of EXALT having seats. The UN is disbanded.

2041: Council research labs attempting to synthesise Element Zero are destroyed by a Scud missile launched from a modified cargo ship. A group calling itself 'Terra Firma', made up of anti-psion, anti-modification religious zealots, claims responsibility and that similar attacks will be carried out on other research facilities delving into Elerium, Meld, Element Zero or psionic research. Despite the best attempts of both X-Com and EXALT, Terra Firma remains hidden and carries out many further attacks on government buildings and research facilities in 2041 before mysteriously falling silent.

2047: Terra Firma make good on their threat. With the lack of activity from Terra Firma over the previous 6 years, the Council slowly lowers security on it's Meld, Element Zero and Elerium labs to divert EXALT personnel to locating Terra Firma cells. In a bloody night, Terra Firma destroys all of the Council's remaining elerium and element zero samples as well as killing Dr Vahlen and the near-legendary pair of Central Officer Bradford and the Commander.

2048: A EXALT infiltrator within Terra Firma learns that the organization's higher ranks are all Thin Men using the organization for their own, unknown ends. X-Com is unable to capitalise on the information, however, due to a string of bombings in downtown Tokyo that severely disrupted X-Com's satellite network and enabled Terra Firma's leaders to go into hiding once again.

2050: X-Com is finally able to locate the Terra Firma main base. Not taking any chances, they hit the skyscraper with missiles despite the high chance of civilian casualties. Terra Firma is officially blamed for the attack.

2051: The last X-Com veteran from the Ethereal War, Andrey Lebedev, dies. Terra Firma is formally announced as defeated by the Council. X-Com scientists, without samples of Elerium or Element Zero to work with on developing FTL to stop Humanity's declining situation, instead begin work on the 'Psi-Hole' Drive to enable FTL.

2060: The 'Psi-Hole' or 'P-H' Drive, which uses the brain of a cloned Ethereal for power, is completed and tested. However, as the P-H Drive is highly inaccurate outside interplanetary distances, X-Com makes looking for planets with Element Zero deposits top priority to make FTL jumps using the 'Mass Relays' mentioned by the Protheans possible.

2061: The Charon Relay is discovered. The Council, in response, puts more funding into trying to synthesise Element Zero and Elerium as well as building colonisation ships fitted with P-H drives to colonise the Solar System.

2067: The colonisation of the Solar System is well underway with small human outposts on every moon and rocky planet.

2068: The Council finally manages to synthesise Elerium using the fusion of Astatine-75 and Lead-238. However, the process requires a constant stable heat and very low pressure to achieve a economical yield. The Council turns its attention's away from synthesising Element Zero to being able to economically synthesise Elerium.

2070: Surface rovers on Venus uncover large deposits of Astatine ore. However, due to the hostile conditions, mining is unviable at the time of discovery.

2071: Using heavily modified SHIVs, the first Astatine mined on Venus is brought to Earth. Research into economical Elerium fusion continues.

2073: Helium-3 drives begin to replace chemical thrusters for manuvering ships at slower than light speed.

2077: The Li Process, a economically viable process for synthesising Elerium, is first used. However, the yield will not be enough to enable every soldier and ship to have Elerium-based technology.

2078: The Council agrees to retain all Elerium for equipping X-Com personnel and for the creation of a new FTL drive similar to that used by the Ethereals to be used on military ships and fighter craft. EXALT personnel and national armies must make do with laser weapons.

2081: The first Element Zero is synthesised using Hydrogen and massive magnetic forces.

2082: The first interstellar colony ships are launched. Ships with P-H drives begin to replace them with Mass Effect drives.

2083: The first colony is established on Terra Nova. The XCWS _Scott__, _X-Com's first warship with a Elerium FTL drive core, is launched.

2090: X-Com survey ships find the first natural sources of Element Zero. Mining begins immediately.

2100: Arcticus Station, a massive fortress space station, is completed in the Arcticus Stream as the Council's new HQ and center of government. On order of the Council, no new colony ships are to be built as the Council seeks to direct more resources into building up it's existing colonies rather than creating new ones.

2105: X-Com Fighter Patrol C-11 encounters a unknown ship on the fringes of Human space. The vessel is immediately destroyed, despite major differences in design between it and Ethereal ships. With the knowledge that there are aliens other than the Ethereals beyond Earth, the Council begins a major armament project to massively increase the size of X-Com's fleet where it should 'be able to defeat the Ethereal fleet that hit Earth five times over'. The so-called '9 Year Plan' proceeds to consume X-Com's entire budget for much longer than 9 years.

2115: There is major mourning as the first days of the Ethereal War are remembered across Human space on the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the war.. The first of X-Com's new warships, the XCWS _Remembrance_, is launched.

2117: More unidentified ships are detected at the edges of Human space. X-Com responds violently, destroying them with surgical strikes from X-Com fighters.

2120: The 100th anniversary of EXALT as Humanity's 'minutemen' is celebrated with the launch of the XCWS _Officer._

2121: EXALT operatives locate a small Thin Man group that have taken over a major portion of the Meld industry through control of Meld synthesising plants. X-Com removes them from their positions and executes them while EXALT proceeds to thoroughly vet their companies, friends and other relations, but nothing is found.

2125: An EXALT raid on a suspected weapons storehouse on Trident turns up a massive Chryssalid hatchery. Unable to contain the Chryssalids, X-Com personnel spend the next year on planet exterminating the escaped Chryssalids, but many escape and begin to slowly spread themselves across Human space despite the best efforts of EXALT anti-Chryssalid teams.

2128: Terra Firma announces it's resurrection with a string of bombings on civilian transports. The situation is worsened when a second organization calling itself 'Cerberus' is found to have created the Trident hatchery. Later that same year, EXALT find Cerberus has obtained schematics for Cyberdiscs, Drones and Sectopods, along with a Ethereal brain from a old P-H Drive. Their aims remain unknown.

2139: The last of the ships built under the 'Nine Year Plan' are completed, 34 years late. X-Com's budget in the following decades is reduced to barely enough to sustain the organization's current size as more funding is given to colony development projects.

2145: The Council opens up funding for a second wave of colonising.

2159: Shanxi, the furthest Human planet from Earth, is colonised. The Council ceases funding for new colony projects, and diverts it into colony development. Terra Firma announces that it has merged with Cerberus, leading to increased attempts by EXALT to hunt them down.

2165: Cerberus, with a army of Sectopods, Cyberdiscs, Drones and mind-controlled Ethereals, attempts a coup on Earth. X-Com, EXALT and national military forces crush the Cerberus revolt within months.

2170: A pair of unknown vessels enter orbit over Shanxi. X-Com fighters destroy them before any communication is sent.

2172: EXALT forces destroy Cerberus' HQ on Terra Nova. Cerberus is revealed to have been a 'resistance movement' against the 'ailen occupation government' and claimed that the Council was entirely made up of Thin Men manipulating Humanity for their own ends. The Council denys this, but the possible implications worry many within the upper ranks of X-Com and EXALT.

2175: X-Com Fighter Patrol D-22, alongside the XCSS _Shen, _disappear during observations of Relay Sx-2-(D). XCWS _Tariq _is dispatched to investigate.


	2. Small Beginnings

The _Tariq _wasn't X-Com's newest ship by any means. The old escort crusier was due to be reassigned next year to the reserve pool, her crew divvied up amongst X-Com's newer and larger escort crusiers. But she'd seen a lot of service, and she'd been captained by two generations of the Johnsons, father and son, decended from Strike Two's sniper, Ben Johnson.

Unfortunately, fate wasn't so kind as to let the _Tariq _simply slip away unbloodied.

The _Tariq'_s bridge wasn't paticualrly large; the Captain's chair sat atop a dais allowing him to observe his crew, who were in various tiers below him by task.

It was midnight, Earth-time, when the bridge was all but deserted. The night shift, numbering a few coffee-fueled sensor operators, was small, but they didn't have much to do bar watch empty screens bar the lone blip which marked Relay Sx-2-(D).

After all, X-Com hadn't had to fight a single proper battle against any alien since the end of the Extermination War, and there was no room to believe anything would happen. Sure, there had been attacks by X-Com on bogeys on the edges of Human space, but they were just ships built by Cerberus or some fringe terrorist group that X-Com didn't know about yet.

"Captain on deck!" One of the sensor operators called out tiredly as he stood, giving Captain Johnson a lopsided salute while his fellows did the same.

Johnson chuckled as he walked to his chair, a steaming cup of tea gripped in his hand, and sat down. "At ease."

The sensor operators sat, shuffling uneasily while Johnson rested his cup on the chair's arm. "Report?"

"No signs of any ships, sir." One of the operators spoke up. "Hell, no debris either. If I didn't know better, I'd say the _Shen _was nabbed by Cerberus, 'cept they're dead. So that leaves..."

"Aliens or the _Shen'_s captain deserting. Latter is unlikely, since the _Shen _would be dead meat once we caught up, and I doubt it's escort would've been too happy about desertion. Aliens, well, that's impossible. We kicked the Ethreal's asses so hard back home and they know full damn well we'll do it again when they show their ugly faces again. Probably drive core malfunction which caused a miniature singularity, turned the whole thing into atom dust."_  
_

"As you say, sir."

The bridge went silent for a few minutes, only broken by Johnson's quiet sips of tea and the pat of fingers on sensor stations, all waiting for something. Robinson knew something would happen; he didn't know what, but he could just _feel _it. Something big was about to go down.

The silent minutes dragged on into hours. The watch changed with quiet mutters and groaning, and still nothing. Perhaps he'd been wrong in his judgement. Johnson shook his head silently, sipping away the last of his tea. He'd never been wrong about this sort-of thing before.

Maybe he was just getting old. He'd be retiring next year, alongside his ship. Perhaps he'd buy a winery somewhere, see if he could give his son something other than the family's military legacy to pass down.

Fate, however, had other plans.

"Bogeys just dropped in sir." One of the operators spoke up.

"How many?" Johnson replied, yawning slightly as the caffeine began to wear off.

"Six sir, roughly 400 meters in length, and a pair at 200 meters in length. Moving in arrowhead formation, small ones at the front."

"Distance?"

"12,000 kilometres and closing, sir."

"Just when I thought today was a good day..." Johnson muttered under his breath. "Battle stations!" He barked. "They close to 9,000 km and we're weapons free. I want our squadrons out there! Gunner, turn the ship and bring the main gun to bear on the lead target. Fire at will once you've got a lock."

"Roger that sir, bringing her about."

Ponderously, the _Tariq _began to turn, slowly bringing her dorsal cannon to bear on the approaching ships.

"This is Tango-Alpha, cleared for launch?"

"Roger that Tango, you are cleared for launch, weapons free. Give them hell."

"Roger that Bridge." Johnson could almost taste the relish in the flight leader's voice. "Let's go bag some trophies!"

At that, a dozen saucer-shaped fighters, Firestorm MkIXs based on the ever-reliable Firestorm chassis with simple weapon and kinetic barrier updates, sped away from the _Tariq, _heading for the alien fleet.

At 10,000 km, all hell broke loose.

"They've fired!" One of the operators shouted as six rapidly moving red dots appeared on Johnson's screen.

"Bollocks." Johnson swore. "Evasive mauvers! Gunner, get this ship shooting!"

"I can't. They're too damn quick, I can't set the main gun properly without it jinking away."

"I don't care for your excuses, get-"

Johnson was interrupted by a ear-shattering explosion as one of the projectiles smashed through the bridge, killing the entire bridge crew immediately. Explosions bloomed throughout the rest of the _Tariq _as the other projectiles struck home, detonating Elerium cores throughout the ship before the _Tariq _in a collssal fireball, blasting shards of wreckage off into space.

All Wing Leader Brian Adams could say was "Goddamn," as Tango-Alpha continued their attack run.


	3. Last Stand of Tango-Alpha

"That was pathetic." Commander Naheris snorted as he glanced down at the slowly-spreading patch of wreckage that marked where the UFO had once been. Smiling slightly, he strode away from the station and back into the center of the _Gilus_'s CIC, sitting down in his chair. "Catareis, you're sure this is the 'invincible fleet' our prisoner talked about?"

"Yes, yes, quite sure." A Salarian, dressed in the distinctive stealth-black armour favoured by the STG, moved up to stand behind Naheris. "Deposits of 115, weak barriers, all adds up."

"No fighters though. I thought these arrogant Asari wannabes used them for everything."

"Maybe older ship? No carrying capability?" Catareis suggested.

"I doubt it." Naheris shook his head. "Our prisoner said every ship of theirs had the capability to carry at least a decent compliment of fighters. Said they were their main weapon."

"Strange concept. Depending on fighters over larger ships? Unusual strategy."

"Indeed." Naheris slouched back in his chair. "Speaking of them, any sign of fighters?"

"Negative on that sir." A sensor operator off to Naheris' right shouted back in reply. "Wait... 6 hostiles, dead ahead."

"Only six?" Naheris' eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You sure?"

"Yes sir. Six contacts, in three groups of two. Fighter sized at 3000km out, closing fast."

"Pah." Catareis stepped forwards. "GARDIANs will shred them."

"Don't be so sure." Naheris stood. "Twelve of these fighters nearly brought down the entire 19th Auxilia Flotilla before GARDIANs took them down, and I don't feel like subjecting the 8th to the same. Flight Commander Varris?"

One of the operators turned. "Sir?"

"Issue orders to the fleet, launch all interceptors. Let's see how well they fare against smaller targets."

"Yes, sir."

"And call Ardettia up as well. See if she managed to get Victar to convince the Counci to send us some more forces for when we hit that 'Shanxi' planet, I have a feeling it's going to be a long war."

* * *

Meanwhile, the six fighters of flight Tango-Alpha continued their approach towards the enemy fleet. Unfortunately, not all the pilots were keen on what amounted to a suicide mission.

"Still think I should go back to Shanxi, give the suits a warning. Sir." One of the pilots muttered into the flight's comms.

"Shut up Turner." Another growled. "I still need to win more money off Elias."

"Don't we all?" A third added bitterly. "But we're going out in a blaze of glory instead."

"Of course." Adams interrupted. "Flightcom silent 'cept for status people, enemy's sent out a little welcoming party."

"Got them on scanners sir. Weapons free?" Turner replied.

"Weapons free, let's get some blood back for the _Tariq._ Tally ho!" And with that battle cry, the first shots fired by X-Com in open battle were fired. Six beams of pulsing green light tore out from the underside of the X-Com interceptors, forcing their enemy to break formation before they responded in kind.

"Targets downed?" Adams yelled as he leaned back, pulling his interceptor up as the response fire tore past his engines.

"Negative." Turner yelled in reply. "Ditto for us though, looks like a- Holy sh-"

"Turner?" Adams asked as he continued weaving side to side, trying to confuse the enemy fighter that was trailing him.

"Sorry sir, bit of a narrow- Goddamn!" Turner swore again as Adams saw his interceptor scream past, a pair of enemy interceptors raking it with gunfire. "Bit of help?"

"Roger that Turner. BL launches authorised?"

"Negative on that Grimes. We need the BLs for the afterparty."

"Sod that sir, EMPs don't have the range and they're too damned fast for lances." Grimes shouted back. "Turner, get some distance."

"Roger." Turner's engines flared, moving the Firestorm away from its pursuers as Grimes slid in behind them, in turn trailed by a lone enemy interceptor.

"Firing BL." A glimmering bolt of green energy shot out from the underside of Grimes' interceptor, tearing through the first before exploding, vaporising the second.

"I said no BLs Grimes!" Adams shouted.

"I have my reasons sir. If not, consider this a mutiny."

"You should be more worried about the pair of incoming ships, sir." Turner interrupted.

"Grimes, help the others mop up. Turner, with me. Let's send this bastard to Davy Jones' space locker."

"Roger that sir." Turner pulled his interceptor up next to Adams' while Grimes peeled off, turning back to deal with the rest of the interceptors.

"Priming BLs..." Turner muttered as the pair of interceptors closed with the approaching frigate. "Let's see how they like some of this-" A brilliant flash of red from the frigate's bow interrupted Turner's mutterings before his interceptor exploded in a brilliant green explosion while Adams continued powering his interceptor forwards, warning lights flashing that the Elerium core was overheating, before a second beam of rown blinded him, and he saw no more.

* * *

"All hostiles downed sir." Varris interrupted Naheris' brief moment of thought.

"Losses?" Naheris barked.

"Five interceptors, minor damage to the _Trajan_."

"Should be less..." Naheris muttered under his breath as he shifted his right elbow onto his chair's arm. "Send Ardettia up, would you? She should have been up here well over five minutes ago."

"Already here, captain." A tall, long-legged Asari strode ondo the bridge, dressed in the formal garb usually found in a party rather than the CIC of a warship.

"Ah, Ardettia." Naheris stood and turned to face the Asari. "How is Victar?"

"Foul-mooded." Ardettia replied. "Tired. I think all the planning for this war has gotten to his head."

"Pah." Naheris waved a hand dismissively. "Victar knows what he's doing, or by the spirits I hope he does."

"You seem to know him well." Ardettia replied smoothly as she slid past Naheris, who couldn't help but glance at her ass, before she sat in Naheris' chair.

"We served on the dreadnought _Apocalypta _together before he got shoved down the army route, while I went navy. We kept in touch though. You'd convince him to try and prod the Council into getting us more forces?"

"Yes, he said he'd try and borrow a few ships from the Salarian Third Fleet to get us some more intel on the full extent of this 'Council.' Said he'd want to talk to you as well."

"You can handle things up here?" Naheris asked, concerned.

Ardettia rolled her eyes. "It's not like we can do anything until the 71st show up." Satisfied, Naheris turned to leave before Ardettia interrupted him. "I'd also appreciate it if you stopped staring at my butt every spare chance you get, Captain. I'm not interested."

Naheris didn't reply as he walked out, pride more than slightly dented.

* * *

"You wanted to see me, General?" The _Gilus_'s QEC room was little more than a small room, one half dominated by the pair of hologram projectors. One of the projectors was off, while the other projected a green hologram of a Turian clad in dress uniform, staring intently at the room's sole occupant, Captain Naheris.

_"Ah, yes Naheris." _Although the QEC distorted Victar's voice somewhat, the faint echoes of confidence, almost to the extent of arrogance, could still be easily heard. _"I haven't managed to pull any forces from the Council long-term and officially, but the Hierachy seems, if what I've gleaned is right, to have decided to use the war as a way to blood our troops. If that's true, we'll have a steady rotation of troops and through the war."_

"Good to hear that, General. Any word on the 71st?"

_"Should arrive at the rendezvous within half a hour at most. I've also commandeered the 29th Asari Commando Team to join the 67th Transport Flotilla who will arrive at where our data indicates to be Shanxi."_

"Two transport flotillas full of troops for one world?" Naheris coughed. "Seems like overkill, General."

_"Shanxi is to become a staging post for the rest of the campaign, and I plan on using it as a forward HQ. Infomation also indicates that the 71st's forces may not be able to take and hold Shanxi."_

"One troop flotilla, unable to take a world? I could understand if it were a world heavily or moderately defended, but everything earlier indicated that Shanxi had a garrison of no more than 90 men."

_"86, to be precise. The reason for this comes as a result of events aboard the frigate Noctis, 19th Auxilia. I've had the event classified, to keep morale up."_

"What? I know of few things that would make you alter a battle plan that's been almost set in stone since the start. It's not like they have some ability to control minds or turn invisible, is it?"

_"Former is debatable, second I can confirm they do possess. One of their soldiers clad in some sort of armour that allowed them to go invisible was able to board the Noctis. Played a game of hit and run with marines for 2 days. We found he ditched the armour at the end of the first day, stashed in a vent shaft, and he could still turn invisible. Salarians had a fit over it once we handed the body over."_

"But if he could go invisible, how'd you catch him?"

Victar grinned. _"That's the funny part. End of day 2, he breaks into the galley and steals some of our food. Idiot poisoned himself, cooks found his body covered in vomit and with some odd orange glow."_

"So you think there are more of these barbarians with invisibility skin on Shanxi?"

_"I know. The captive and the captured data both said there were 5 'X-Coms', 1 'MEC', '40 EXALTs' and 40 'national military' on planet. Since our invisible man's armour had X-Com written on it, we can presume all their 'X-Coms' can cloak. Can't say for the others, or what they are."_

"Which is why you've shuffled the plan around."

_"You catch on fast Captain." _Victar smiled slightly. _"Once we've figured out what all these different forces are, we can shuffle the rest of the plan as needed by expected enemy forces and what forces we are assigned. 71st arrive over Shanxi in 20, I want all space-based and ground-to-space assets neutralised well before that. Good luck, Captain"_

With that, Victar's hologram fizzled out as Naheris began to think.


	4. Shanxi: Preparations

Shanxi wasn't a large colony; a single city that held the entire planet's civilian population of around 20,000. The city itself was made up of apartment blocks separated by streets, with a main road running right across the city and other roads coming off, with the city's small landing field for spacecraft at the western edge, along with it's barracks for it's national army detachment. X-Com's Shanxi base sat at the eastern end of the road, under a small hill fenced off and covered with dishes used to recieve feeds from X-Com's various monitoring satellites scattered across the system.

The Shanxi squad, however, was out of the base, leaving it occupied by the team's MEC, Elias, and it's liaison with X-Com whom they'd simply dubbed 'Tech'.

The pair sat in the base's comm room, idly drinking from a Thermos flask while watching the large bank of monitors that completely covered one of the walls.

"Any signs of the _Tariq_, Tech?" Elias asked as he leaned back in the chair, his auguments whining slightly.

"Nope." Tech shook his head. "Don't know why you're so eager to see those flyboys again. It's not like you're going to win your money back, you couldn't bluff your way out of anything."

"Hmm." Elias mumbled. "But that's where you're wrong. I played bad, since they had the deck. This time, we're playing with my deck."

"What, the one that you marked each card slightly?" Tech chucked.

"That one. Things should be a lot... Fairer now."

"Fairer? More like damned one-sided." He scratched his chin. "But it does explain why you lost so badly. You did it on purpose."

"Lull then into a false sense of security, then steal all their money."

"Mind if I join you? It'd feel damn good to put those glory-hunters in their place."

"Sure." Elias grinned like a hungry dog that'd just smelt food. "More money for me to win."

"You hope, Elias, you hope."

Tech turned back to the bank of monitors, idily picking a cigar up from the desk and popping it in his mouth as the room fell silent, but for the humming of machines.

"Is that supposed to be there?" Elias stood, pointing to a faint blue dot on the edge of the screen.

"Don't think so. Lemme see if it's the _Tariq, _or better yet, the ship carrying our new fighters." Tech's fingers flickered over the keys, bringing the unidentified bogey into focus. "Hoo-boy." Tech rubbed his hands together. "No standard military IFFs, no civvie IFFs. I'd say Cerberus, or another false blip."

That was when a second blue dot appeared, swiftly followed by a third and a fourth.

"Still think it's a error?" Elias smiled ruefully.

"Nope." Tech tapped a few keys, bringing the screen back to it's normall system-wide view. "I'm reading negative on Elerium signatures but positive on Eezo. Looks like either Cerberus suddenly became incompetent or we're dealing with something new."

"Aliens?"

Tech rolled his eyes. "Obviously." He blinked nervously as a few more blips appeared. "And I doubt they're here to say welcome, with that many ships. Go find your squaddies, I'll inform SC and see if I can get some reinforcements sent our way."

"Uh..." Elias glanced down at his arguments, while Tech turned around and immediately started shaking his head.

"Oh no. I am not doing that. There's a line to how much I can stomach as you lot's intel guy, and that's crossed it by a few light years."

"You know full damn well I can't do it myself. All you have to do is find the release trigger on the back, this suit will do the rest."

"It's still goddamn disturbing though." Tech grumbled as he stood and followed Elias out into the base's common room. It wasn't much, just a kitchen in one corner, a table in another with the rest dominated by a pool table. All they needed.

The pair went through a door on the opposite side, heading for the base's hanger. The planet wasn't quite populated enough to warrant having a Skyshark Gunship assigned, so the hanger lay empty except for the bulk of Elias' MEC.

"Do I have to do this?" Tech mumbled as Elias stood in front of his MEC.

"You know full damn well someone has to do it." Elias snapped. "I don't like it either, but sacrifices must be made for the greater good."

"Urgh..." Tech shook his head as he approached Elias, who simply stared ahead. He crouched, before pushing on Elias' thigh. A panel clicked open in the arguments, revealing a small switch. Blinking, Tech flicked the switch before standing up as Elias' mech emitted a low whine, the auguments moving slowly away from Elias, disconnecting.

"And now for the gross part..." Tech placed his hands into the gap between the auguments and Elias' body, lifting him out of the rig and placing Elias' chest onto his shoulder.

Grunting under Elias' weight, Tech moved around the empty auguments to stand between the auguments and the MEC, before hauling Elias' body off his shoulders and stretching up, shoving it into the MEC.

"Sheesh..." Tech mumbled as he stepped back from the MEC. "Wouldn't think you were that heavy."

"Heh. Anyway, open the hanger, then get on the line to SecCom. The Admiral will know what to do."

"What, Benson the Boozer?" Tech replied as he walked over to the other side of the hanger, flicking a switch before the hanger's door slowly rose, letting light stream into the room. "He won't be good for anything."

"He's just bored. Ever since Cerberus left, well, he's just been waiting for more action. I hope."

"I don't think so." Tech said uncertainly. "In the meantime, get the hell over to Shanxi City. I'll tell your squaddies what's happening, then keep an eye on those ships and tell SecCom what's happening."

"Try not to get yourself killed." Elias nodded as he stood, the MEC rising to it's full 10 foot height.

"You too." Tech replied, turning to leave the hanger. "Also, aren't you forgetting your gun?"

"Nah." Elias shook his head. "Damn thing's too bulky for me to aim properly in cities. Besides, I've got the giant rocket fist/flamerthrower and dual grenade launcher combo instead. Stuff is going to be burned."

"If you say so..." Tech walked out of the hanger, quickly taking his place back by the bank of monitors as he watched the mass of ships glide closer, while Elias sprinted off towards Shanxi City.

* * *

Tech took a sip of the cold coffee as he sat down at the monitor. The number of ships had increased since he last saw them, now around 25. Grumbling, his hands flickered over the keyboard, changing the green and black screen to that of a mess hall.

"Hiya Tech!" A short Hispanic woman with black hair clad in the distinctive curved form of Titan armour stood up near the back, waving enthusiastically. "How's Elias?"

"Heading your way, actually." Tech snorted in reply. "It's you and the plastic's lucky day today, since I've got a large number of presumably hostile bogies incoming."

Grumbling echoed throughout the hall before another soldier, this one clad in normal khaki with a carapace breastplate, stood. "You know not to call us that Tech."

"What else am I to call the People's Liberation Army Space Corps? Plastics flows a lot better than PLASC. Anyway, you heard what I said. Hostiles incoming. Notify Major Yuan, I don't see him anywhere. Mobilise EXALT as well. I'd do it, but I need to go chat with SecCom."

"Yes, sir!" The Hispanic womansnapped a quick salute offbefore the screen went blank. "You know the drill, people. Whichever one of you is Yuan's second, take B and C squads off to the base gate, leaving Yuan with A and D squads to hold the landing field gate."

"And what about you and your people?" One of the PLASC marines stood, "I'm Lieutenant Zhang, Yuan's second, and I think I speak for everyone here when I ask where X-Com will be?"

"We'll do what X-Com does best." The woman shrugged. "Our MEC is heading to the base gate, so you'll have him and a EXALT team to hold that gate. I'll be taking another EXALT team to the field gate. Of the remaining 4 X-Com personnel, and 3 EXALT teams, I'm leaving them to set up a secondary defensive line within the city. Now haul ass people, we've got a colony to hold and ailens to kill!"

With that, the soldiers began to file out of the hall, eager to engage in their first actual battle.

* * *

Tech slouched back in his chair, the monitor flickering back to the black and green screen showing the alien fleet's approach. It was worryingly close; he gave them 7 minutes tops before the first of the ships was in orbit.

However, 7 minutes was easily enough to inform SecCom. Tech straightened up, before he opened up a QEC line to SecCom.

The ailen fleet vanished, and was replaced by the aging features and grey hair of a old man in the dark blue of a naval officer's uniform.

Tech saluted before the old man spoke. "Good morning Shanxi, and whatever have you decided to bother me today for? Y'all know it's not a good idea to bother me unless it's urgent, and I have paperwork to do."

"I know that, Admiral Benson."

"Good. Now shove off, unless you've got anything more important?"

"Ailens, sir." Tech muttered.

"What was that, man? Speak up!"

"I said ailens, sir."

"What, ailens? Actual honest-to-God ailens? Not Ethereals, I presume?"

"No sir. They're moving into orbit over Shanxi as we speak. I was hoping you could give us some help."

"What? Help? I'll go there myself, give them a damn good asskicking!"

Tech coughed. "Might want to bring some ships as well, sir."

"Ah, yes, of course. On that front, there's good news and bad news."

"Which is?"

"Bad news is that both my sector fleets, 4th and 5th, are on patrol elsewhere. 4th will take 36 hours to arrive, 5th even longer, and even if I could get them there earlier, I still have to ask Fleet Command to ask the Council for permission to actively engage."

"Shit." Tech swore under his breath. "We won't be able to hold for that long, sir, not against this many if I'm guessing their numbers right."

The Admiral grinned, revealing his yellowed teeth. "Fortunately, I studied military law, like all the other officers. And it just so happens that I can use a tiny piece of that to get you a fleet."

Tech grinned back. Maybe there was hope after all?

"One of X-Com's commander's main rights was that in the event of a crisis or not having enough forces in any present squads, they were allowed to organise a non-permanent battlegroup to deal with the crisis or to act as a temporary squad while more recruits were brought in. We call it the 'Battlegroup Clause', and every single high-ranking officer exploits it ruthlessly."

"That's all well and good Admiral, but..." The monitor flicked back over to showing the position of the ailen fleet, and now the green blips had moved into orbit over Shanxi. "They're here. I'd like that help as quickly as possible."

"Of course. I'll see what ships I can weld together into a relief force. ETA of... Eh, I'd say 4 hours. Good luck."

"You too, sir." The monitors went black as Tech stood up, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a laser pistol.

It didn't take long for the ailens to announce their arrival at the base as a massive explosion ruptured the hanger door, opening a large hole which a group of them dashed through, flashlights illuminating the empty hanger.

Tech breathed slowly, trying to remain calm as he furiously typed in the commands to lock down the computer before taking cover next to the doorway, holding the pistol in both hands.

One of the ailens shouted something, before the faint glow of flashlights entered Tech's room. They were in the common room.

Tech took a deep breath before he leaned out of his cover. There were 5 ailens, one in the doorway opposite with a strange-looking rifle pointed at the door Tech was in, while the other 4 had split into pairs, each pair covering one of the other doors having taken cover next to them.

Tech acted immedately, squeezing down on the pistol's trigger and sending a beam of red light at the ailen in the doorway opposite, catching him in the chest and causing him to crumple backwards, dead.

Tech ducked back into cover as the remaining 4 sent a barrage at the doorway, missing. Tech leaned out again, but immedately ducked back as another burst of rifle fire tore past his head.

When Tech leaned out again, he found himself face-to-face with one of the ailen rifles. It fired and Tech collapsed backwards, pistol dropping from his hands and clattering to the floor, before the ailen spoke.

"Comms relay is ours, one casualty."

* * *

In Shanxi City, the still peace of the morning was shattered by the blaring of air raid sirens as civilians scampered to the nearest shelter while the city's defenders took their positions, rechecking their weapons nervously and glancing at the sky as a swarm of small points of light decended towards them.

War had come to Shanxi.


	5. Shanxi: Planetfall

"Comms relay is ours, one casualty."

Naheris smiled slightly. Everything had gone well, so far. As expected, there'd been no resistance when they jumped in system, and the alien's comms had been taken down with only a single casualty.

"Excellent. Move to rendezvous with the rest of the landing party."

"Yes, sir." The comm link ended with the fizzle of static before Naheris' hand skimmed over his Omni-Tool, opening another comm link.

"Colonel Tareis." Naheris opened. "I trust the first wave has been loaded into the shuttles?"

"Of course." Tareis rasped back. "Second wave is loading as we speak."

"Good. I want them planetside within half a hour. Citadel time, not Palaven time. You aren't getting away with that error again."

Tareis chuckled, a horrible rasping sound like metal on pottery. "I wouldn't expect to."

"Good." A light tap on his shoulder from his second informed him that Ardettia was on deck, before Naheris cut the comm link before turning around to face Ardettia, her face locked once again in a scowl.

"I take it your meeting with the Council and Victar didn't go as planned?"

"Of course not. Victar is bringing his fleet in early, wants to score himself some points with the Council." Ardettia crossed her arms, still scowling. "He also thinks he can win this war in a year."

"That's a bit pessimistic. We smashed those fighters of theirs with ease, not to mention that the captive has been providing us with somevery useful intel."

"What, the same fighters that nearly destroyed an entire Auxilia flotilla?" Ardettia shook her head vigorously. "And the captive... Expired."

"What? What do you mean expired?" Naheris snapped, Ardettia not even blinking.

"After the captive proved remarkably... Resilient to conventional interrogation methods, the Council authorised an Asari interrogator to forcibly extract one information. Afterwards, the captive proceeded to refuse all offered food and drink."

"And?" Naheris shrugged. "They could've just force-fed it."

"What, force-feed something that might turn invisible and escape once you open the door? No. My point, commander, is that the captive committed suicide by dehydration."

"Spirits..." Naheris muttered.

"And that's what we're going up against. A species that is willing to commit suicide to avoid further interrogation."

"Then we may have finally found a foe worthy of the Hierachy's might and is willing to fight us on our terms."

* * *

Lieutenant Braxan shuffled nervously as the faint roar of the manuvering engines indicated they were moving. The dropship itself wasn't cramped, but it was just small enough to make everyone inside uncomfortable.

"All right back there?" The pilot's voice crackled over the speaker as the 10-man squad silently checked their weapons and made their prayers, remaining silent.

"I see you aren't talkers then." The pilot continued. "Doesn't matter. This should be a piss easy landing, and then you guys can get to doing what you do best."

The shuttle continued it's decent to the surface, Braxan watching the door in the shuttle's rear nervously.

The shuttle swerved suddenly, throwing Braxan onto the other side as the pilot shouted something, lost in the crackle of the speaker, before a flash of green tore straight along the side of the dropship where Braxan had been sitting, before the engines died.

Braxan yelped as he grabbed onto the bench while the dropship spiralled out of control, before he shut his eyes and waited.

A few seconds later, the dropship's remains ploughed into the ground. Braxan opened his eyes, and was presented with what some might have called a disaster. The Turian dropships had, although not cut to pieces as Braxan feared they might be, we're completely disorganised, dropships scrambling to set down or simply flying out of range of the enemy AA.

He groaned and sat up, before standing, using his right arm to support him; he couldn't feel his left. He glanced around; several of his squadmates were getting up, but there were still bodies, scattered around where the dropship had crashed.

"Sir." One of the soldiers gave a unsteady salute, hand covered in blood. "Orders?"

"We continue." Braxan grunted and pulled his sidearm out, waving it unsteadily towards the grey blotch of the city behind them. "And try and take out that damned AA. Don't want the next wave getting caught out by that."

The soldiers nodded, and the squad slowly moved out.

They'd crashed someways north of the city, and reached it's wall within ten minutes, before moving along the wall's shadow. The wall itself was a smooth metallic black, and along the way found a patch of blackened dirt where a group of engineers had tried to blow a breach. From the wall's undented surface, it was quite obviously a failure.

The squad rested at the breach site for a minute, bandaging their wounds and getting their breath back, before continuing onwards.

When they finally reached the gate, what Braxan found was best described as chaos. The Turian forces that had survived the landing had taken cover behind the city walls as the occasional purple laser sprayed through the gap in the wall for the road.

Braxan's squad took cover by the wall, far from the gap, before he tapped the soldier in front of him.

"What's the situation?"

The solider twitched, before turning. "Not good..." He glanced to Braxan's shoulder. "Lieutenant. They've got a barricade across the street and are pinning us down."

"What about the streets by the wall?"

"There aren't any." The soldier patted the wall. "This thing stops at that gap for the road, then turns and joins onto the blocks. They've got a checkpoint set up." The soldier looked behind him. "Where's the rest of your platoon?"

"Don't know. I lost half my dropship's compliment when we got shot down, don't know what happened to the other dropship."

"Orders, sir?"

Braxan looked up into the soldier's expectant face. "Right. Here's what we're going to do!" Braxan shouted. "Firstly, I want everyone with smokes and flashbangs up to the gap. You're going to throw the grenades in, then we'll lob whatever frags we have left over the barricade. Right?"

A muffled cheer went up as the force rearranged itself, those with smoke grenades shuffling towards the gap. A short while later, several metallic cylinders were thrown in, clattering to the ground as the throwers ducked back into cover, before the hissing of smoke being released broke the silence.

"Charge!" One of the throwers yelled, before the group broke into a charge, rounding the end of the wall and hurtling into the grey smoke, those in the lead firing off wildly in front of them. Braxan skidded to a halt, crouching down behind the barricade.

As the smoke dissipated, Braxan groaned. A second barricade had been set up further back down the street, and from the few bodies dotting the gap between the first and the second, it seemed that most of the defenders had fallen back to the second.

"Damn." Braxan muttered. "Right! Every-" A explosion interrupted him, spraying fragments of building and dust into the air as the largest mech Braxan had ever seen stormed out of the clout of dust.

It glanced over the Turians, before extending it's right arm.

Braxan's last sight was that of green fire, burning though everything it touched as the group, screaming in pain, burned to death.

* * *

Elias spat onto the ground.

"Amateurs."

* * *

A/N: Have a quick, if shorter than I'd like it to be, update. Also, thanks to all the people that pointed out my little error with medi-gel. Needless to say, that probably won't appear as X-Com doesn't need it (they have medkits for that).


End file.
